Better Off Late
by iiTz JaZZy
Summary: Seems like just when he thought he had it all figured out... Well, he always was too lazy to prepare for the worst, wasn't he? Seeing Frisk on a hospital bed was not the reunion he wanted. Why the hell is she being so positive about this? Older Frisk x Sans. After the barrier. True pasifist run. Eventual M rating.
1. Chapter 1

Sans had been about a few months into his world travels, something he had put off for far too long and needed far too much, but never one to miss a call from home, he was surprised to see his phone flashing at him after he had stepped out briefly.

Wondering slightly why anyone would call so late, surely being on the other side of the world meant you only would receive phone calls at this time if it were something highly important, wouldn't you?

Cautiously he returned the call, letting out a sigh of relief when his brothers overly loud voice filled his ear. "SANS! I WAS WAITING FOR YOU TO CALL BACK!"

"Hey bro. Sorry I missed your call, was outta the room cuz-"

"SANS, Sans, B-Brother... You have to come home. Right away. The human, Frisk she's, been in a accident... I don't-" barely registering his brothers change in tone, the first few words sent something akin to lightning shooting threw Sans's skull.

Sans never tried teleporting a distance as far as he did, but if Frisk needed him he would have drained all his magic to cross an ocean in the blink of an eye.

Crackling blue magic filled the room as Sans appeared right in the middle of the kitchen and startling Papyrus into drooping the phone.

His brother had immediately began his breathless rapid fire explanation of Frisk's predicament, and for once Sans was grateful his brother didn't pick up the breathing habit he did. He had jumped too far too quickly, not even building up his magic before his eyes were blazing. Now he was gripping the edge of the counter as the kitchen swam in front of him, his brother a blur of white and blue and noise. Papyrus was attempting to give him all the information he needed as he dashed around the house, grabbing his Keyes and scarf along the way. Sans, unsteadily following, was quite, his worrying gnawing a hole in his metaphorical stomach as Papyrus's words and actions grew more and more frantic. He was trying very hard to concentrate on his brothers words, but he was struggling. The strain of teleporting and this indescribable feeling that was pressing on his throat were making clear thoughts near impossible. With black spots dotting his vision, Sans so desperately wanted to ask the most important of questions, when can he see Frisk?

Finally feeling enough will to reach out and grab his brother after he dropped his keyes again with shaking hands, Sans locked eyes with his nervous expression.

"How long ago did it happen? Which-Where's the hospital, we need to go- now Pap, we need-" San's words came in a rush of nerves and worry, his brother grasping his slumping form, only now noticing his condition as Sans legs gave out from under him.

"BROTHER- YOU DIDN'T- YOUR MAGIC! SANS?!"

Sans felt the cold tile and his brothers magic nervously flutter around him, but the black spots had grown in his vision and he couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed at that point.

With a dull thud, Sans skull hit the floor, all light drained from his eyes.

 _Some knight in shining armor you are, buddy._

He fell into unconscious as Papyrus alternated between shaking him and dialing Undyne.

Authors note: WOW it has been forever since I wrote a fic hasn't it? Sorry this is so short, getting the layout right. Fortunately this lovely little game has reignited my passion, and oh am I in love with Sans (and Papyrus, so adorable.) Please let me know what you think, I have some ideas for this one, and I'm planning a looong one. Will eventually be Frisk/Sans, with a little Undyne/Alphys and Papyrus/Mettaton for flavoring. Set after the barrier is broken, true pacifist run. -Jaz


	2. Chapter 2

After Sans went dark on the floor, Papyrus phoned Undyne and Alphys, and shot a quick text to Mettaton, who was already being released from the hospital and was waiting quite dramatically to see Frisk. Papyrus honestly wasn't worried about his brother too much, this had happened before when he over exerted himself, but he truly _did not have time for this_.

"Come now brother! This is no time to nap! Lazy bones, must I do everything?" Papyrus scolded loudly, propping Sans up against the wall. The cellphone in his other hand was buzzing spastically, Mettaton sending encouragement and Undyne sending curses.

-HE COULDN'T KEEP IT TOGETHER TILL WE GOT TO THE HOSPITAL ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHY DID WE EVEN CALL HIM IF HE WAS JUST GOING TO PASS OUT LIKE A FUCKING WIMP-

-Don't worry darling! I'm sure your brother and lovely Frisk will be up and about in no time, I'll throw a party in my new apartment to celebrate! After all, you're the only one who's seen it ;)-

The last text made a very noticeable orange blush creep up his neck bones, cheeks and nearly to the top of his skull. Over the last few months he and Mettaton had become, well very... Very close. Though he had failed to let any of his friends know.

It wasn't that he was embarrassed! After all, he was the great Papyrus! And Mettaton, oh, how could he ever be embarrassed of _him_?

He just really did not want to have a conversation with his brother about that, he always seemed to conveniently forget whenever he called.

Undyne and Alphys arrived quickly; the latter's claws clicking against her phone screen as she tried to get more details from the hospital and Mettaton. Of course his retelling of the accident did not help in any way, but Papyrus was happy to know he came away without a scratch... then felt horrible immediately remembering Frisk.

"I do not know whether I should be relieved at Mettaton's health, or worried about the human! I should be worried about the human! She is so small and I, the great Papyrus, should have been protecting her while Sans was away!" Papyrus said quickly while shaking his head and slinging his brother over his shoulder. Undyne was not as gentle.

Alphys chimed in quickly "Oh no, I did designed him to be near indestructible but- but that's not helping heh...heh..." She quickly scurried behind her girlfriend, drowned out by her yelling.

"What the hell with your brother?! He gets here and passes out?! We already have one person, well two but he's okay, ONE person in the hospital! He could've waited to wimp out!" Undyne was all agitation and scales when she grabbed Sans from Papyrus and dashed to the car.

She would've never grabbed Sans so roughly if he was awake (he was possibly the one person she wouldn't fight, she's heard stories.) but, for once Papyrus wasn't moving fast enough for her.

Alphys was still typing, ignoring her as she instructed Mettaton where to meet them and when.

"Let me, let me sit in the back- I'll see if I can help Sans wake up. In the meantime Papyrus, you drive. Mettaton is waiting on us." She shuffled into the backseat and waited for everyone to pile in.

"YES, wake brother on the way so the hospital won't have too!" Papyrus yelled happily as he ran towards the car.

Sans was unceremoniously dumped into the back seat by Undyne, all the while grumbling about skeletons and timing.

Alphys did some quick reviving to get Sans on his feet. They all piled out of the car, Sans somewhat woozily while Papyrus tripped over Undyne while attempting to sprint through the front doors where Mettaton was just ahead.

"Over here my lovelies! Oh Pap, slow down, I'm not running away!" Mettaton nearly spun to Papyrus's side, quickly grabbing hold of his hand and placed a winking kiss on his wrist.

Papyrus was blushing again, but still gathered Mettaton in a tight hold and knocked his head against his affectionately.

Undyne and Alphys were less then amused, one rolling her eyes and the other blushing.

"Now is not the time for that!" the rest of the conversation was lost on Sans.

After arriving, Sans slipped away from the group, not even noticing Mettaton's very touchy greeting of his brother, and went to find the room Frisk was being held in. While he wasn't fully 100% just yet, the sight in front of him was sobering.

 _Frisk... Oh no kid... Why wasn't I there..._

Frisk was laying on a bed, her face and neck covered in bruises and scratches, but still flushed with a pink tint that looked unnatural against her tan skin. The bandages covering her right hand were clean, but still far too big to provide comfort, and her hair was splayed out around her, wild and smelling of blood.

Sans really hated the smell of her blood.

Her chest was rising and falling with a barely noticeable hiccup, something only someone who's watched her for years would notice. He face was twitching slightly, her lips pulled into a scowl rather than her normal small smile.

Frisk was by no means as happy go lucky as Papyrus, a lot of Sans's sarcasm had rubbed off on her, and Undyne's colorful vocabulary was hard not to imitate. Even so, the sour expression was rarely seen on her face, especially when she wasn't awake.

From what he remembered of Papyrus's rambling, there was some sort of car accident. Mettaton wasn't driving, but they were in his limo... Completely totaled from what he heard.

Sans didn't have the nerve to walk further into the room, much less sit down in a chair, instead sliding down the opposite wall and covering his face with one hand. The insistent beeping of the hospital machines was slowly giving him a headache, and the sight before him was doing wild things to his heart.

Frisk had always been his partner in crime, his little sister and then best friend as she grew older. He had always been right by her side, cracking jokes when she was sad and keeping her entertained when she was bored. Even when her nightmares had reduced her into a shaking ball of tears and fear, he held her and shushed her until she had calmed enough to voice her fears...

He kept her safe from Humans and Monsters alike who threatened harm. He would have died keeping her safe, and not only because of that promise he had made some 11 years ago...

Which is why it came as such a surprise to everyone when he just suddenly decided to announce he was taking a trip, and wouldn't be back for a while. To Sans though, it was all he could do to keep Fisk safe. A few weeks before his departure, he had started noticing things. Small things, like the way Frisk's face would scrunch up after a really good pun, or the way the sunlight liked to reflect in her eyes. With dawning horror, Sans realized he was falling for his friend, and had no idea how to stop it. Not that he was sure he wanted to…Frisk was everything he ever dreamed about. Though lately his dreams had been… well waking in blue sweat and feeling mighty uncomfortable in his shorts was not something he was used to.

And he was sure nothing good would come of this, no matter how good his dreams were. Frisk was more then he deserved. Not to mention he was around when she was just a child, something bound to turn more than a few heads. Plus he was so difficult; Frisk needed more than just him, if she even felt the same way, that is.

After all, finding out your skeletal best friend has had a very deep crush on you? That would at the very least ruin their friendship. There was no way the attraction was mutual, Sans had never been so lucky in his life and wouldn't dare to start hoping now. His leaving was meant to protect her, get him to clear his head in a way. No matter how much he'd missed her he'd done it for her.

And yet, he couldn't protect her from something as common as a car accident. The condition she's in, if he had been there, if Mettaton hadn't been there...

Sans eyes were glowing dully behind his hand, his magic pulsing in agitation at his emotional distress. The painful ache of failure manifesting physically to show his self-loathing, this was entirely his fault it seemed.

This was never a sight he wanted to come home to.

Authors Note:

WOW. Guys thanks for the reviews! I was just like, okay maybe like 20 views, went to sleep and woke up to over a hundred in a day? Thanks so much! I'm so happy and just thanks! Now I won't be posting daily, but I can promise 2 chapters a week, I started this one right after the last and figured I won't make you guys wait. But seriously thank you, Hopefully you enjoyed this a tiny bit. Feel free to review, need to know what you all think! -Jaz


	3. Chapter 3

"Yes I know. Yes I am very sorry but I will not be there. No, I'm still at the hospital with my daughter..."

After clearing some appointments from her calendar, Toriel clicked her phone off. She really loved this nifty little phone, Frisk had gotten it for her as a Christmas present last year. Aside from her and Alphys teaching her how to use it, she's had so much fun taking pictures and videos. Though she wasn't in the mood to play with her phone right now, she had more pressing matters to attend to.

Toriel had been here for hours, but it felt as if she still had so much work to do. This was a human hospital after all, and the only reason Frisk got such quick attention was because she was the ambassador. Even if she was so very young. She looked it, laying On the hospital bed bruised and exhausted.

She sat silently in her chair, watching and waiting. Though, it wasn't Frisk she was looking at.

Sans was still here. Granted he really wasn't supposed to be, visiting hours for friends was over, but Sans had managed to hide away while Toriel lead everyone out. She had been there before them, but she avoided Mettaton and the flurry of attention surrounding him. She only wanted to ensure Frisk's safety. But after shooing everyone home and taking a seat by the bed she finally allowed herself time to clear up everything with her duties and talk to Asgore.

Then Sans causally strolled out of the bathroom, looking like a soon to be scolded child.

"I was gonna say you have a skeleton in your closet, but uh, there's no closet here... Joke still works though, heh..." Sans stopped at the foot of the bed, glanced at Frisk quickly before turning and taking a seat in the floor against the wall.

He looked terrible. Even more so when the monitor beeped and he visibly cringed, but went to check it anyway. After seeing nothing was amiss, he returned to his spot by the door.

"I should have guessed you've never left, you always did do whatever you pleased." Tories gave a warm fuzzy smile, eyes warm and understanding. "Well yeah, couldn't leave the ki-" "Say kid and she's likely to wake up and raise hell" Toriel interrupted him with a chuckle. Frisk was very adamant with trying to get Sans (Sans specifically) not to call her a kid, but he did it just to annoy her anyway.

It obviously had nothing to do with the crush she's harbored on him for a good couple years now, Toriel thought with a small fuzzy smile. It had been funny to watch, the failed flirting attempts on both sides. She was sure there was a bet between Undyne and Papyrus too.

"If it'll get her to wake up, heh might even start reading her reciting Disney stories.." With an overly casual shrug her leaned back against the door. Sans was trying to stay compose, but Toriel could see right through his façade.

"I suppose that would be fine, but you'd have to do the voices too. She was pretty upset last time you spoke after all." Chuckling, Toriel got up to check Frisk's monitors. Possibly not the best time to bring up Frisk and Sans argument, but she had been worrying for a long time what went wrong. Now seemed like a good way to get them to patch everything up when Frisk was better. After deeming everything acceptable, she turned back to Sans.

Toriel had never seen a skeleton look as bad as Sans did at that moment. His arms were around his keens, back hunched and head resting on top of his hands. His eyes were the most startling, glowing not blue but a dim gray. Staring straight ahead but not seeing anything.

"I don't... Wanna think that's the last thing she'd think of me." The admission came with a shuddering breath, a quiver that she's never heard his voice make.

Signing, she sat back down in the chair, if she was younger she would have taken a seat next to Sans, but the hard floor wouldn't agree with her back. She fixed Sans with her most caring look, she knew him well. Prying wouldn't work, but waiting... Well, Sans wasn't known for his patience.

He didn't speak for a long time, and when he did his voice was raw with emotion, "It was a stupid thing to fight over too, we never fight... I don't think I handled it well... Probably shoulda talked to her more before I left too. I just, I don't know Tori..."

At least he was talking, though she didn't know exactly what about. She knew they hadn't been on the best of terms but Frisk had been very tight lipped about it.

"What may I ask were-" "She wanted to start dating, me. Start dating me. There's just... That wouldn't work out well, for her. So I shoot her down. I didn't mean to hurt her feelings but... There's just no way." Stiffening slightly Toriel took a moment to compose herself before speaking. It's not every day your daughter gets her heart broken, but to her knowledge Sans had been the only person Frisk ever had been interested in. How had she missed this?

Taking a breath, she spoke softly "Well, it's fine if you don't feel the same way, I'm sure you will still be friend-" "I do." Sans interrupted bluntly. He had that faraway look again.

"You...do what?" Toriel was getting confused. "I do feel the same way. I always have. She's... She's everything Tori, she's smart and funny and clever and everything I don't deserve. She can make friends with anyone, stare down the strongest kings and then go flower picking with Pap. She cares, like really cares, about everyone. She makes time for me, she's the only one to drag me out the house to go look at a tree she found and actually make it fun. She's the only one I want to be with every day, and I don't deserve any of it." Sans said everything while gesturing with his hands, ending with covering his face with both palms allowing his now blue eyes to shine brightly.

 _To hell with my back_

Toriel sat down next to Sans on the floor. He was huffing, emotional distress rolling off of him in waves, and it physically hurt to look at. Frisk's monitor beeped in the background, but Toriel was sure if it was seriously a nurse would come in. This wasn't what she thought it would be at all, but she wasn't about to leave without helping Sans. She had no idea this was what had been plaguing her daughter and friend for all this time.

"Why do you think you don't deserve her, Sans? She seems to think you're her everything too." Toriel's voice was feather light, maybe she could help Sans see reason? Or at least get them talking again, When Frisk awoke that was.

Sans laughed, but for once there wasn't a shred of humor to it. "Yeah, okay. Let's make a why Frisk shouldn't fall in love with a skeleton list. For one, I don't age. She does."

"Planning on leaving her when she gets old?" There was only a little indignation in her voice, only a little. "What? No! Never, just, shouldn't that bother her. It has to, even if she doesn't think about it, yet." Sans answered quickly, turning his whole body sideways to talk.

"Obviously it does not, or she wouldn't have tried. Then that one is out, next?" Toriel would poke holes in every reason if they were as flimsy as this.

"Fine, point to the queen. I'm not exactly someone she can build a normal life with. I'm not human." Toriel considered this for only a half second before shaking her head.

"And her mother and father are the monster queen and king, all her friends are monsters and she grew up in the underground. She's never wanted normal. This-" she waving her hand vaguely at Sans "- is normal. Well the currently accommodations aren't but you understand."

"That's... That isn't fair. Being my friend isn't the same as dating, you know that." Sans was staring at her in mild disbelief.

"You wouldn't, you didn't even try." Toriel leaning closer to him slightly, staring him down the way only a mother could, disapproving frown and all. Shrinking back, Sans knew she was right. Damn, she wasn't the queen for nothing.

"Two points." Mumbling, Sans closed his eyes for a moment. Gathering his thoughts the queen supposed. "I could hurt her. Without meaning too. I could really hurt her." Sans was losing his battle to keep composed, and Toriel didn't like the time he had slipped into.

"Well, you are strong but she does go around with Undyne very often. If she can handle her, well, I think she'd handle you. Plus you would be careful, wouldn't you?" Patiently she tipped her head at him, and he recoiled again.

"I'm always- dammit. You're making this really hard you know. I can't just assume I won't hurt her because I care. I could lose control or... Or... No. I can't risk that."

"But she would. You don't trust her like she trusts you?" Sans leaned his skull back against the wall, cursing under his breath. "It's me I don't trust. But fine. Fine. Fuck. I'm not done thinking about it."

Standing she went to gather her things, she had planned on staying here longer but she was sure Sans wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. She would stop by again with food however. Sans watched with curious eyes, glancing from her to Frisk and back. Walking to the door, she offered a hand to help him up, then opened the door and looked back at him. He hadn't moved, but he looked less like a train wreak and more like Sans, so she didn't feel adverse to giving him one more push.

"Oh, and Sans? You only gave me reasons why you shouldn't date, not why you don't deserve her. You never did answer my question."

She left before he could formulate an answer.

Sinking into the chair, Sans couldn't shake this icy feeling that had settled between his ribs and chilled his throat. He had an answer after all, just not one he could ever say.

Grabbing Frisk's hand as delicately as he could, he wasn't surprised he found it warm.

It was cold once before.

"...I killed her once ..."

Authors Note: Oh geez, I'm really sorry bout the wait guys. Sans was just not cooperating. Jerk. BUT, I'm back, and I'll have another Chapter Tomorrow! Hopefully that makes up for the wait, see you soon!


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